Libya: More On Targeting Muammar

Folks in the Administration say they can’t target Muammar Gaddafi — per this earlier post — because the U.N. resolution doesn’t permit it. But that kind of makes you wonder why the Brit defence boss, Liam Fox, speaks so freely about Gaddafi being a Hellfire helipad. The U.S. has sometimes viewed UN resolutions as rubber bands, able to stretch to cover whatever Washington wants to do (like those no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq that lasted for more than a decade). In any event, over on Slate, Christopher Hitchens has also weighed in on Gaddafi’s future:

Quite obviously Col. Muammar Qaddafi has joined the list of deranged dictators whose acceptability is at an end, and it is unimaginable that he should emerge from the current confrontation with control over any part of the country. Equally obviously, we shall have to go to Tripoli to remove him.

Given Fox’s comments, it’s going to be interesting to hear what he says after his meeting Tuesday afternoon with Gates…and even more interesting to hear what Gates has to say.